Melee Attack
Weapon quality infoicons ( ) redirect here. For an explanation on weapon qualities, see Melee Strength. A Melee Attack is the term used to refer to direct, physical, face-to-face combat between any two units. A Melee Attack is performed when a single unit moves adjacently to an enemy target on the battlefield, and then assaults it directly with weapons, claws, teeth, or whatever other physical weapons are available. Unlike Ranged Attacks, Melee Attacks cannot be performed at a distance - they require close proximity since physical contact is always made by the two units. This close proximity allows the attacker to also simultaneously unleash "subsidiary" attacks, including Breath, Thrown, Gaze and Touch Attacks, which can significantly increase the damage caused to the target. On the downside, the close proximity also gives the target an opportunity to make a Counter Attack against the assailant - a process that occurs simultaneously with the Melee Attack. In other words, the target gets to inflict its own damage upon the assailant, putting both units at risk. All Melee Attacks deliver Melee Damage by default, which is intended to cause actual to the target - potentially killing one or more of its . Again, if the attacker and/or the defender possess any Special Attacks, these are often executed as part of the Melee Attack and may cause all sorts of subsidiary harm to either unit. Most units do not possess such attacks, and thus will only deliver Melee Damage. Initiating a Melee Attack on an enemy unit takes a number of Movement Points equal to 50% of the attacker's Movement Allowance. A Melee Attack may not be performed by a or unit against a unit, unless special conditions apply. Concept During a battle between two armies, units may have different ways of inflicting damage upon their enemies. The most common (and usually most effective) way of doing so is for a unit to march up to an enemy unit and perform a Melee Attack against it. In a Melee Attack, the attacking unit (known as the Assailant) is assumed to be making direct "hand-to-hand" contact with the enemy - striking at it with hand-held weapons or (in the case of monsters) claws, teeth, et cetera. The defending unit (known as the Target) usually gets the chance to retaliate. This is called a Counter Attack. When this occurs, both the assailant and the target deliver Melee Damage to each other simultaneously! Therefore, a Melee Attack is often riskier than Ranged Attacks. Melee Attacks are distinguished from Ranged Attacks and direct-damage spells in several different ways, due to the physical contact made between the assailant and the target. Most importantly, for a Melee Attack to occur the assailant and the target must be adjacent to each other. A Melee Attack may never be performed if there is one or more tiles of distance between them. Furthermore, once a Melee Attack has been initiated, both assailant and target get the chance to employ additional Special Attacks as dictated by their abilities. This may include Breath Attacks, Gaze Attacks and so forth, most of which take place just prior to the distribution of normal Melee Damage. Ordering a Melee Attack s may only be executed against a target that is immediately adjacent to the attacker. Diagonal attacks are fine.]]Before initiating any Melee Attack against any target, the attacking unit must first move adjacently to that target. In other words, the attacker and the target must be in adjacent tiles on the battlefield for any Melee to occur between them. Diagonal Melee Attacks are allowed. While the attacker is selected, put the mouse cursor over the desired target. If a Melee Attack is possible, the cursor will change into an image of two crossed swords. Clicking the mouse button in this case will trigger a Melee Attack by the selected unit against the selected target. If the target is invalid for an attack (for any reason), the cursor will turn into a big red X, and no attack can be ordered. Of course, computer-controlled units perform the same process without all the visible clicking. Dealing Melee Damage : The main goal in most Melee Attacks is to deliver normal Melee Damage - damage from physical weapons such as swords, spears, claws or teeth, as available. Under the simplest circumstances, a Melee Attack consists simply of the assailant attempting to deliver as much of this Melee Damage as it can to its target. It will try to kill off as many of the in the enemy target as it can, or otherwise injure the target unit as much as possible. Melee Damage is explained in its own article (see also Physical Damage for a thorough explanation of the process). In general, the assailant is required to make a number of rolls in order to determine how many times it has struck the target successfully. The target then gets to make rolls to try and block or dodge some (or all) of these hits, minimizing damage to itself. After all rolls have been completed, "unblocked" hits are translated into and inflicted directly at the target's score. Special Attacks : Delivery of Melee Damage (see above) is only one part of the Melee Attack process. For many units, the Melee Attack actually consists of several different attacks being performed in rapid succession against the target, with each attack potentially delivering extra harm to the target just before or just after Melee Damage is processed. The sequence of these attacks is very specific, and is of extreme importance. These extra attacks are called "Special Attacks", and many deliver "Special Damage" which often behaves nothing like the Melee Damage described above. In most cases, the purpose of Special Attacks is to kill off extra enemy or neutralize them in one way or another. Special Attacks may include Breath Attacks, Thrown Attacks, Gaze Attacks, Touch Attacks, and so forth. Each of these attacks delivers a specific type of damage as defined by the unit's abilities and/or equipment. For example, the Fire Breath ability allows a unit to perform a Breath Attack delivering Fire Damage. As explained below, the sequence in which Special Attacks are delivered is quite rigid, and is very important. The sooner a Special Attack occurs, the more potential it has for preventing the enemy from retaliating (explained in the next section), thus giving extra protection to the attacker. Counter Attacks : In most circumstances, making a Melee Attack against a unit allows that unit to retaliate. This is known as a Counter Attack. In essence, the target gets to deliver its own Melee Damage on the attacker, in much the same way as described above. Barring special abilities and so forth, Melee Damage is dealt simultaneously by both the target and the attacker. Therefore, the attacker may be in as much risk as the target! This is the complete opposite of Ranged Attacks, where no retaliation is allowed - making the attacker completely safe while the target is the only one who takes damage. The process of handling Counter Attacks is very complex, and is explained in more details further down this article and on its own article. Movement Costs Any Melee Attack initiated by a unit (i.e. not a Counter Attack) costs that unit half of its total Movement Allowance. For example, a unit with a Movement Allowance of will spend 1.5 Movement Points when making a Melee Attack against any enemy. As a result, a unit may make two separate Melee Attacks each turn - spending half of its movement allowance on one attack, then the remaining half on another attack. Each attack may be directed at a different target, if so desired. This of course would leave the unit with no Movement Points to spend on actual movement this turn. Alternatively, units may move before and/or after their Melee Attack - in other words, spending half their movement points on attacking, and the rest on movement towards or away from the enemy. If the unit has at least 0.5 Movement Points remaining, but less than half its Movement Allowance remaining, it will simply spend all remaining points on the attack, and its turn ends immediately afterwards. Units with 0 Movement Points remaining may not attack at all. Melee Attack Sequence As explained earlier, many units' Melee Attacks give the unit a chance to use its various Special Attacks, if it has any. Also, the target of the Melee Attack performs its own Counter Attack, which can also be comprised of several Special Attacks executed in rapid succession. Melee Damage is only exchanged between the attacker and the target at the very end of the Melee Attack process! In most cases, the sequence is as follows: The purpose of this stage-based process is to give the combatants a chance to kill-off or neutralize some or more of the opponent's , reducing the opponent's overall strength before the next stage begins - especially before the opponent can deliver any of its Melee Damage (at stage 3). Thus, a unit with plenty of powerful Special Attacks - particularly Thrown Attacks, Breath Attacks and/or Gaze Attacks - has a chance of completely preventing the enemy from retaliating, and thus minimize or eliminate damage to itself. The reason is that any killed off during any of the above stages does not get to participate in the subsequent stages of the attack. For example, if a target loses half of its during stage 1, its overall strength by step 3 is half what it had at the start of the process, thus significantly reducing the risk to its opponent. If either the attacker or defender has lost all of its by the end of any of the above steps, then the Melee Attack ends prematurely with victory for the other unit (assuming it survived). A unit executes only those Special Attacks that are available to it, and only at the appropriate stages in the process. For example, if the attacker lacks both Thrown Attacks and Breath Attacks, then step 1 is skipped. There are many instances where only step 3 is executed, with both units exchanging only Melee Damage since neither possesses any Special Attacks whatsoever. Altering the Sequence For the most part, the sequence of a Melee Attack and the enemy's Counter Attack is set in stone, as described by the table above. However, there is one Unit Ability in the game which alters this sequence: the First Strike ability. When the attacker possesses First Strike, the process is rearranged as follows: By moving the attacker's Fear Attack and Melee Damage stages up, the attacker has a better chance of killing or neutralizing enemy before they get any chance to retaliate (apart from Gaze Attacks, which are always executed first). Again, the more enemy can be neutralized this way, the less overall strength the enemy has for stage 4, and thus the less damage is caused to the assailant, statistically. First Strike only works for the attacker in any given Melee Attack - it is never used when Counter Attacking. Furthermore, if the defender has the Negate First Strike ability, then the attacker's First Strike does not trigger, and the sequence remains as described earlier. The complete picture is as follows. It happens when the attacker possesses First Strike, Haste, and a couple of others, and the defender has Haste, Wall of Fire and a couple of others. * Thrown, Breath or Gaze Attack is only dealt in this subphase if the ranged attack strength is at least 1. ** Immolation and Touch Attack is only dealt in this subphase if the previously listed attack is dealt. If the Touch Attack comes from a Magical Item, then the previously listed attack must match the weapon's type. '' ''*** Melee Damage is only dealt in this subphase if the melee attack strength is at least 1. Ground vs. Air Units that move by and/or cannot initiate a Melee Attack against units that . Even if the two units are immediately adjacent to each other, the ground unit may not attack the air unit voluntarily. The reverse, however, is different. Airborne units may freely attack ground units at will, barring any special combat effects that may specifically restrict this for any reason. There is one main exception to this rule: Ground units possessing Breath Attack, Thrown Attack or Gaze Attack abilities may attack airborne units as normal. Counter Attacks are almost always allowed regardless of the units' movement types. Therefore, when an airborne unit attacks a ground unit, the ground unit may retaliate as normal. However again, it may not initiate an attack against the airborne unit - only retaliation is allowed. Spells and Abilities affecting Melee Attacks Category:Attack Types Category:Combat